The Duffy Bishop Band

FLY THE ROCKET

Burnside 0032
available on CD Universe

This tight band is playing that good vintage 70's style R & B.  Their staunch mixture of urbanized city blues cross pollinated with Rock and Roll, and just a dash of the hillbilly blues of the country, that evolved into swing music, is played with energy and conviction.  This is the horn driven music that was prevalent in the small smoky clubs of the South.  Music that was about getting all the dancers out onto the floor to strut their stuff.  It is that slower more pushing music that propels the body on the dance floor as opposed to the more stylized, yet frantic music that eventually evolved into the R & B and Rap that is prevalent in the 90s.  The heartfelt quality of the songs comes shining through off the disc.  This stems  from the fact that the band, in one aggregation or another, wrote all but one of the songs.  One song that truly leaps out in this way is the tortured PAIN.  This tune which is co-written by Duffy Bishop and Eddie Gahr, is sung with the conviction of a person who has experienced the depths of the emotions they are singing about.  The horn charts here stand as a perfect compliment to the pain echoed in the voice.  Some of the songs are also written with a playful sense of humor that pushes them along.  Listen to FLY THE ROCKET, and the images drawn up go right with the cover art's sense of kitsch.  The back-up singing done by this Duffy Bishop is done with a fuller and richer voice than that with which she sings lead.  Her singing as lead vocalist at times is a bit thin, not enough fullness of voice to match the intensity of the song.  Yet she does get this richness of voice when she is doing the backup vocals, and on a few of the numbers more toward the end of this disc.  She even does a great smoky torch number at the end called BLUE LULLABY, that is a great faux ending to the disc.  There is a mood psychedelic song, that is uncredited that provides a great ending to this disc.  This 14 song, 73 plus minute disc is good introduction to this bands work.  They have an energy, tightness and focus they apply to their music that serves them well.  A fantastic job on the cover art and the liner notes which are also easy to read.

 


The Duffy Bishop Band Fly the Rocket

Produced by - Terry Currier
Songs, times and writers

  1. CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS - 4:07 - Chris Carlson
  2. ROCKANDAHEATBREAK -3:17 - Willy Barber
  3. WILD WOMEN - 4:26 - Ida Cox
  4. ONE DAY - 4:40 - Carl Sander/Chris Carlson
  5. IT'S A CRIME - 6:21 - Chris Carlson/Duffy Bishop
  6. BETTER HALF OF WHAT - 4:42 - Duffy Bishop
  7. JUST A WHISPER - 5:04 - Chris Carlson
  8. HEY LINDA - 4:15 - Chris Carlson/Duffy Bishop
  9. PAIN - 5:27 - Eddie Gahr/Duffy Bishop
  10. PATIENCE - 5:39 - Willy Barber
  11. 3X's - 6:58 - Chris Carlson/Duffy Bishop
  12. EACH DAY - 5:03 - Copyright control
  13. FLY THE ROCKET - 6:42 - Chris Carlson/Duffy Bishop
  14. BLUE LULLABY - 2:24 - Chris Carlson

Musicians
Duffy Bishop - lead and back-up vocals
Chris Carlson - all guitars, back-up vocals
Willy Barber - all bass
Jon Goforth - tenor and alto saxophone, flute, bass flute
Bryan Dickerson - tenor and baritone saxophone, clarinet
Michael Partlow - drums
Carlton Jackson - drums, back-up vocals
Janice Scroggins - piano
Dover Weinberg - organ, back-up vocals
Greg Garrett - trumpet
Gavin Bondy - trumpet
Tom McGriff - backing vocals
Bobby Torres - congas, shaker, cowbell, tambourine